Monopoly
by Athenaktt
Summary: COMPLETED! Ever wonder what would happen if the Atlantis team, played a friendly game of Monopoly together? Well this is one possible scenario. ShepWeir implied, but not forced down your throat so don't fret.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Stargate: Atlantis_ nor do I own the _Monopoly _game. But I do love both very much.

_**A/N:** Okay I wrote this fic just for fun. This spawned from eavesdropping on my younger cousins playing Monopoly. Also in my defense, I actually sat down and played a round of Monopoly by myself (sad but true) in order to write this fic, and the fact that Teyla was thrown in jail five times was not my doing it was all in the dices. Enjoy!_

_I also finally took the time to revise this again, for any typos and errors I may have missed. I'm sure there are still some that my Beta, Astrochick, and I manage to miss even after proofreading this a whole bunch of times. _

_And I want to thank everyone for all the reviews! I didn't expect the response I got for the fic, and I'm happy a lot of people enjoyed it. Thanks again!_

**Monopoly**

After a hard day of reconnaissance, success in evading wraiths, or being blown up by Genii spies, everyone who was off-duty usually ended their day with something fun or relaxing. Since most of the scientists on the team were workaholics, most just spent their time in their labs working until their heads hit their desks. Eventually they would decide to camp out in their lab, which probably explained the not so stereo-typical unkempt look.

Usually John would go back to his room and read, since running away from alien monsters all day was enough of a workout for him, and getting his butt kicked by a girl at the end of the day was never appealing. But tonight was different.

Tonight John was out on a mission, a mission that consisted a long flat rectangular box, and getting Doctor Elizabeth Weir to say 'yes'.

Elizabeth opened her room door to find John standing at her door smiling.

"Major Sheppard, can I help you?" She eyed the flat rectangular box in John's arms.

"You'll never guess what I found," John said with a boyish gleam in his eyes.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with that box in your hands," Elizabeth said, as she eyed John suspiciously.

"This is not just any box." He flipped the box to show Elizabeth the cover with large red and white letters across the top with a monochromatic old man grinning wearing a top hat with his arms outstretched holding a cane in one hand.

"You found the Monopoly game in the city?" Elizabeth asked confused.

"Yeah, one of the scientists brought it as their personal item."

"Interesting…"

"Actually I thought it was weird, but I was wondering if you weren't doing anything, would like to play?"

"You want to play a board game?"

"It's just not any board game. It's Monopoly. It's a classic," John said.

"You're asking me to play Monopoly…with you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah…Me, you, McKay, Beckett, Teyla, Ford, Zelenka, and Grodin."

"You know you don't have to have eight people to play."

"It would be more fun with more people."

"Do you know how long this could take with eight people?"

"A couple hours," John said.

"A couple hours if we were lucky," Elizabeth muttered.

"So are you in?"

"Did you know Rodney and Radek were here earlier?" Elizabeth said crossing her arms.

"Yeah, that's why they sent _me_ this time." Elizabeth's eyes narrowed as she observed John's unchanging expression. "So are you in?" He tried again.

"I can't believe you are trying to talk me into play a board game, when we should be getting rest, so we can be semi-conscious to defend Atlantis from the Wraith."

"All work and no play, makes John a dull boy," John said with a smirk. "Come on, Atlantis isn't going to sink because you decided to play a board game for a couple hours," he reasoned. "Besides we are going to be in the conference room. If all hell breaks loose we're near the Stargate."

"That's reassuring." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Wait a second, the conference room? You guys have designated the conference as your play room?"

"Yep, it's the only room that could fit eight people comfortably, and the hexagonal shape of the table works perfectly. So, are you in?" He asked again, figuring to himself that the third time was a charm.

Elizabeth sighed. He did it again. He succeeded. She had let him persuade her to do something completely ridiculous again. "Fine, I get the racecar," she finally said.

John frowned, "I wanted the racecar."

"I know," Elizabeth said with a wink and started to walk towards the conference room.

John jogged to catch up with Elizabeth. "What do you mean, you know?"

"I know that you like, Ferris wheels, college football and anything that goes more the two hundred miles per hour," Elizabeth said with a smile. "I can understand the football and anything two hundred miles per hour, but Ferris wheels?"

"Ferris wheels are fun, especially when you're way up at the top. Makes you feel like you're flying," John explained.

"Don't roller coasters do that too?"

"Not exactly, you're being hurdle through the air in record speeds, but you don't have to time to admire the view. Now the Ferris wheel is slow, but it gives you the exhilarating feeling of flying _and_ you can take the time to admire the tiny people looking up enviously at you."

"I guess that makes sense," Elizabeth said slowly.

"And the Ferris wheel was what inspired me to become a pilot," added John.

They climbed up the stairs that led to the conference room, and saw through the open doors that everyone was already inside waiting.

"There you are Major, it took you long enough," Rodney said impatiently, taking the box from John. "Ford, set up the board," he said, handing the box to Aiden. "Hello Elizabeth, glad you finally decided to join us," Rodney said, irritated that John was able to persuade Elizabeth to join them when he and Radek couldn't.

"Thank you Rodney, I only agreed to play if I could be the racecar," Elizabeth said.

Rodney looked over at John. "I thought you wanted the racecar."

"Elizabeth said she wanted the racecar, so I let her have it." John shrugged.

"Oh, I beg and plead you to give me the racecar and you refuse, but because 'Elizabeth said she wanted the racecar' you give it to her. And, you'll probably want us to believe that there is nothing behind that," Rodney complained.

"You begged and pleaded?" Elizabeth asked.

"I was only exaggerating," Rodney quickly said, but by the looks of everyone in the room, Elizabeth knew Rodney wasn't exaggerating.

"All right, Doctor Weir gets the racecar," Peter announced, and handed Elizabeth the silver racecar token. He then placed all the remaining pieces on the table for everyone to pick their preferred tokens.

"All right, fine I'll take the cannon," Rodney said.

Peter looked down at the quickly diminishing pile of silver tokens on the table. "I don't see a cannon here."

"What do you mean you don't see a cannon?"

"I mean that there is no cannon here," Peter said.

"All right, who took it? Fess up," Rodney said, as he eyed John.

"Don't look at me I got the horse and rider," John said holding up the horse and rider piece.

"Figures, you Americans and your cowboys," Rodney muttered, and stared at Radek.

"Don't look at me, Rodney, I'm stuck with a shoe," Radek said holding up the little shoe.

Carson immediately held up a tiny hat to show Rodney. "I don't have it either," he quickly said.

"I've have this three-wheeled thing, I believe you call it a wheelbarrow," Teyla said.

"I got the ship," Aidan said with a boyish grin, but his grin quickly disappeared when John glared at him.

"You can't have a cooler piece then me," John complained.

"Did you want the ship, sir?" Aiden asked.

"No."

"Can I—"

"No," John cut him off. Ford sighed and replaced the ship in the pile and picked up the iron, which in turn, Peter picked up the ship leaving only the dog left.

Elizabeth brought her hand to her forehead. They had been sitting here for twenty minutes arguing about who gets what piece. She couldn't fathom what the rest of the game would be like.

"What I get the dog?" Rodney whined. "There should be two more pieces. The apparently MIA cannon and the…"

"Thimble," John supplied.

"There aren't anymore pieces in the box," Aiden said, "Doctor Hale did say that there were some pieces missing."

"Yes, and I assumed she was missing the little green houses that every one _always_ loses, and not the cannon."

"Rodney, just take the dog, so we can get started already," John said as he sat down at the conference table and tossed Rodney the little silver dog.

Everyone finally sat down around the table in the clockwise order: Elizabeth, John, Aiden, Teyla, Peter, Carson, Radik, and Rodney.

"So who's the going to be the banker?" Elizabeth asked.

"Banker?" Teyla asked still extremely confused by the fact that earthlings found enjoyment in playing games with paper and little metal objects.

"A banker is someone who manages a bank," Peter began to explain.

"That is so obvious," Rodney asserted.

"As I was saying, a banker is someone who owns or manages a bank, which is an organization that offers financial services, such as loans and safekeeping of money." Peter finished his explanation.

"What are you? The walking OED? It's not like she understood a word you just said. It's basically a place where you put money in on reserve, and a banker is basically a person who either lends you money or takes your money as deposits…"

"Rodney, this isn't Banking 101," Radek interrupted.

"Fine, let Sheppard be the banker, since he claims to be the math geek of the group," Rodney said, as he passed the box of money to John.

"Hey, I never claimed to be a math geek."

"You were Mensa."

"I only took the test and passed, but I didn't join; besides Mensa had word problems too."

"Did you know that _Mensa_ is the feminine form of 'stupid' in Spanish?" Aiden informed everyone.

"It also means 'table' in Latin," Carson added.

"I'll be the banker," Elizabeth announced. All of these people had the attentions span of three year olds! How she let John persuade to spend her night with these geniuses was beyond her. She glared at John as she started dividing up the paper cash among the party. John feeling a bit guilty started to help her divide and pass the money around.

While John and Elizabeth were spreading the money, Rodney decided to read his abridged version of the instructions.

"Preparations…place board on table…yada yada yada…each player is given fifteen hundred dollars…ah, here we are…Starting with the Banker, each player in turn throws the dice. The player with the highest total starts the play: Place your token on the corner marked "GO," throw the dice and move your token, blah blah blah. Elizabeth you start." Rodney continued skimming through the instruction manual and came across the "Rules for a Short Game." "And just to let you guys know, we aren't going to play the wussy time-limited game, we are going to play until the best man wins."

"Do you know long that is going to take?" John asked.

"As long as it takes, Major." Rodney looked at John in all seriousness.

"Shouldn't we go through the whole instructions for Teyla?" Aiden interrupted John and Rodney's mini face-off.

"We'll tell her the rules as we go," Rodney said and passed the dices to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth rolled the dices and got a twelve. "Oh, the highest numbers on the first try," Elizabeth smiled.

"You were just lucky, next." Rodney signaled for John to hurry and roll.

When it came time for Teyla to roll, she was still confused, but copied everyone else and shook both dices in her hands and let them drop.

Finally the dice came to Rodney to roll and he rolled a two. "That was pointless. We should have just started with Elizabeth in the first place. What were the odds of another one of us were getting a twelve?" he complained returning the dice to Elizabeth.

"Zelenka, Beckett, and Teyla all rolled sevens," Aiden said.

"It doesn't matter. There are more combinations to roll a seven with two dices, giving better odds in rolling sevens. As for a twelve, there is only one combination."

As Rodney kept talking, Elizabeth started her turn and moved her token eight spaces, and passed the dice to John. When it came to Rodney's turn he rolled a ten and landed in the "Just Visiting" spot.

"Oh great, I just started the game and I can't even acquire property, because I have to visit some sorry looking guy in jail. 'Sorry, I can't help you I'm a dog'." Rodney said to no one in particular.

"You know you can't buy property in the first round," Peter pointed out. Rodney glared at Peter. "I'm just doing my job and stating the obvious," Peter said with a grin.

After one round around the board, some people were able to acquire property; and Elizabeth happened to land on one of John's property. Just as she was shelling out her monopoly bucks, John whispered to her, "I'd let you slide, but McKay would make a scene."

"You two, no insider trading," Rodney said pointing at the John and Elizabeth. Then as John landed on Rodney's property, Rodney grinned and said, "Pay up, Major. You're in Rodney's world now."

"Rodney's world? What are you? Five?" John said, as he handed him the money.

After two hours, all the property on the board was bought, but no houses or hotels could be built since no one owned a single group. Rodney was pleased with the number of properties he acquired, being the most. While Carson and Teyla only acquired a measly number of two properties due to a streak of bad luck that threw them in jail for most of the beginning of the game.

"Now that round one is done. We can start eliminating people," Rodney announced eyeing Carson.

"There are rounds in monopoly?" John said, and was promptly ignored by Rodney.

"I'm betting Carson would be first to go bankrupt, then Peter, and then Teyla," Rodney said mentally tallying his chances of winning.

"What are you doing? You can't commingle your funds with the banks," He said, as Elizabeth took a five-hundred bill from the bank and exchanged it with five one-hundred bills from her own bills.

"I am not commingling. I am making a fair exchange with the bank so the bank can pay your two-hundred dollar salary when you pass 'GO.' Here." Elizabeth tossed the two one-hundred bills to Rodney.

Everyone rolled their eyes and continued playing, secretly wishing they would go bankrupt, so they could end the game and go to sleep. After a couple more rounds around the board and still no where near ending, John and Elizabeth decided that one way to end the game faster would be to merge their funds.

"At this rate we are going to be playing all night," Peter sighed.

"That is why Elizabeth and I have decided to merge our funds," John said.

"You can't do that," Rodney said.

"Of course we can, it's a private transaction between two parties," John said pointing out a line in the manual.

"There is no point in merging your funds; even after you merge your properties you still haven't collected a group to build any houses."

"That's true, but we would have the most owned properties," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Fine, that means you two only count as one turn then," Rodney said.

"That's fine," Elizabeth agreed. John made a face.

"Fine, we're keeping the racecar," John said as he removed his cowboy token. "Now everyone is happy."

"And sleepy," Radek added. Rodney glared at Radek. "It is almost midnight, and the game is at a standstill."

"It is not at a standstill," Rodney objected. "Money is being transferred back and forth, granted slowly, and look! Carson's pile of money was getting smaller, and mine _was_ the largest until these two decided to get married. Ow!" Rodney yelped. Apparently Elizabeth's leg had a spasm and kicked Rodney's leg rather hard. "Are you trying to break my leg?" Rodney cried, as he starting rubbing injured leg. "I think you broke it."

"If only," John muttered.

"I'm sorry. I had a leg spasm," Elizabeth said innocently.

"Do you want me to take a look at it, Rodney?" Carson piped up, hoping this would give him an excuse to leave the game.

"I'm fine. Keep playing," Rodney said, still rubbing his leg. "Thanks Doctor, it's going to bruise nicely," he sneered at Elizabeth.

"Good work, partner," John said to Elizabeth.

"I don't know what you are talking about. It was a leg spasm," Elizabeth smiled innocently.

It was Teyla's turn, and she landed on Chance and was sent directly to jail for the fifth time.

"What is this 'jail' that I'm constantly being sent to?" Teyla finally asked.

"It's a place where you put criminals as their punishment," Aiden explained.

"Like the brig, were we kept Sora and the Wraiths?" Teyla's eyes narrowed. "Then why am I being sent to jail, when I have done nothing wrong?"

"It's just a game, Teyla. It's not real," Aiden said.

"It's called bad luck," Rodney said.

"Do innocent people get placed in jail on earth because of this 'bad luck'?" Teyla asked.

"There have been some known cases…" Elizabeth began.

"But I think we should just keep playing," John said, gesturing Peter to continue playing.

Carson sighed as he rolled the dices. He was hoping some emergency would require him to leave and go to the infirmary. At least there was an end to a medical emergency. Monopoly should be renamed the Never-Ending-Game-Especially-in-Large-Groups. Carson started to wonder if there was fine print written in invisible ink on the box somewhere stating that. Why else would they have a couple suggestions for short games on the manual?

"Doctor Beckett, you're needed in the infirmary," said a voice over the intercom.

Carson grinned as he stood up to leave. Some poor scientist probably managed to cut himself while making a midnight snack, had, no doubt, saved him.

"Wait a minute, you can't just leave like that," Rodney said.

"What do you mean? I have patient waiting for me in the infirmary."

"What about you're funds and property?"

"I'll give them to…Teyla," Carson finally said and handed all money and properties to Teyla. "Here you go, love, hope your luck will improve. Good night everyone," he said and ran out of conference room as fast as he could. He was free!

But as for the other six players, they were still frantically figuring out a convincing excuse to leave the game, since Rodney was still intent on playing until everyone went bankrupt and, of course, with him as the winner.

Elizabeth yawned, causing everyone around her to yawn as well. "Since John and I are playing as one person, I'll just let John play, and I will go to sleep," Elizabeth said getting up from her chair. John immediately grabbed her arm for her to sit back down.

"You can't leave, you're my partner, and you're the banker," John reminded.

"Can't you be the banker?"

"No, if I was the banker, McKay would accuse me of commingling and money laundering or whatever, so he'd end up the winner," John explained.

"Then why don't we just forfeit and let Rodney win?" Peter suggested, his head leaning on his hand and slowly getting closer and closer to the table.

"No, we can't just let McKay win. Besides right now we are winning," John pointed to him and Elizabeth's pile.

"Then I'll forfeit for you guys to win," Peter tried again.

"There will be no forfeiting, unless you have a good excuse to leave," Rodney announced.

"Great. It's too late for me to think of an excuse, let alone a good one," Radek muttered.

"I will continue playing," Teyla said. "This game is interesting. It is like trading only without as much consequences, other then being thrown in jail for no apparent reason."

"See, Teyla is enjoying the game," Rodney said.

"But," Teyla began.

"But…there is always a 'but' even with aliens," Rodney rolled his eyes, "but what?"

"But if I am sent to jail again, I shall stop playing. I do not enjoy being punished for not doing anything wrong," Teyla said.

"Fine," Rodney said.

"Why does she get to leave and I don't," Peter complained.

"First of all, she has been sent to jail like what four of five times already," Rodney began.

"Five," John provided.

"See five times. Second, she could kick my ass if didn't let her leave."

"So could I," John added.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because Elizabeth knows I am invaluable to the team, and she would stop you from hurting me," Rodney smirked.

"He's got a point," Elizabeth said.

John looked over at Elizabeth. "Maybe you should go to sleep," he suggested.

"I think I'd better stay a while longer, I don't want to be woken up in the middle of night because there was a fight in the sandbox."

The dices came around to Teyla again. Just as it seemed Teyla's luck had changed, but she had to roll doubles three times in a row, which meant she automatically was sent to jail.

"Sorry Teyla, you going to jail again," Aiden said taking Teyla's token and placing it in the jail box.

"No, I am not going to jail. I am going to my room. Aiden, you can have my money and properties," she handed them to Aiden, said good night to everyone and left.

"And then there were six," John said.

"Technically five, since I'm just the banker now," Elizabeth said, resting her head on the table.

"This sucks. Even with all this property, I still don't have a full set," Aiden complained, as he looked through his new cards.

The five men continued playing and Radek and Peter were very slowly heading towards bankruptcy. In Radek's next roll, he landed in the "Go to jail" spot, and he took this little break as a moment to take a nap. Then Rodney prided himself on winning the "beauty contest" from the Community Chest spot. John and Aiden only ignored Rodney and continued playing.

After losing three turns, it was Radek's turn to pay his fifty dollar fine to get out of jail, but instead he was fast asleep.

"Radek!" Rodney slapped him hard on the back. "Wake up!"

Radek sat up straight with his eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights. "Rodney, I can't do this anymore. It's one in the morning and at this rate we still won't be done by tomorrow's 08:00 briefing," he said, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

"You're exaggerating. I think we'll be done long before the briefing. I say 05:00 at the latest," Rodney said positively.

"You're crazy. I'm going to give what I have to Docter Weir," Radek said getting up.

"You can't give it to Doctor Weir. She's sleeping," Rodney pointed to Elizabeth who had fallen asleep with her head on the table.

"No she's not," John said, and nudged Elizabeth to wake up.

Elizabeth groggily sat up. "We're still here?"

"Yes," Peter said tiredly. "I'm with Radek. I'm just going to split what ever I have between Doctor Weir and Lieutenant Ford. "That should give you guys some advantages over Rodney and finish before Rodney's estimated 05:00." Peter stood up and followed Radek out of the conference room, while Elizabeth had resumed her sleeping at the table.

"What is this? Let's all gang up on Rodney? Everyone is just giving away their stuff, and they all happen to neglect giving anything to me. I'm feeling loved," Rodney whined.

"Yes, Rodney feel the love as I build a hotel on every property that I can," John said with a devilish smile. The end of the game was near, and John was ready to make the sprint for it. Once Rodney was out of the game they could end it, since Ford would easily concede when ordered.

John looked over at Elizabeth and felt a bit guilty for dragging her out to play a game that was lasting an eternity. He figured would probably have to carry her back later, since this time she seemed to be out cold. She didn't even stir when Rodney cursed at the Chance card that instructed him to pay fifty bucks to each player.

After building six hotels on six different properties, John was ready to sit back and watch Rodney slowly shell out money to him at every spot he landed on.

"Rodney you should just give up, you know you've lost already. This isn't Wheel of Fortune where I'll spin a Bankruptcy card and loose all my property. Even Ford knows that he can't win me," John said.

"That I because you guys aren't giving me a fighting chance."

"That just how it is," John said.

"'Just how it is' is that the only come back you can think of?"

"At one in the morning, yes," John said.

"Fine. Let's make a deal. You give me Boardwalk, so I can start building houses as well," Rodney proposed.

"I can't give you Boardwalk."

"Why not?"

"Because that is part of Elizabeth's share and I don't want to wake her." Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Elizabeth isn't even playing anymore. She's already gone to see the sandman. Do we have a deal or not?"

"Fine, I won't _give_ you Boardwalk, but I'll _sell _it to you," John said.

"How much?"

"All the money you have on hand."

"What?' Rodney cried. "What is the point getting that property if don't have any money left to build a house on it, and what'll happen when I land on one of your zero-starred hoteled property?"

"You'd go bankrupt and we can all end the game and go to sleep."

"Forget it then."

"Suit yourself, you're going to lose anyway," John simply stated.

"It isn't over until the fat lady sings," Rodney said as he rolled the dice.

"I never understood that saying," Ford said. "Who is the 'fat lady'?"

"The original saying is either 'The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings', but there also the argument that it was 'Church aint over until the fat lady sings'. So the 'fat lady' is some opera singer or church singer," John said.

"You're just full of fun facts aren't you, Major," Rodney said sarcastically.

"Well in this case, this isn't over until Rodney goes bankrupt."

Another hour almost passed, before Rodney was willing to admit the inevitable. He was going bankrupt. He had to mortgage half of his properties just to keep from owing John money, and he wasn't rolling high enough numbers to reach "GO" and collect his salary to survive the mines that John had planted around the board disguised little red plastic buildings.

It did not help that each time Rodney landed on one of John's developed property John would yell "Pay up!", which to Rodney's ears sounded like a "BOOM!" This wasn't fair. Rodney was being picked on by two military chumps. There was no way he could win against the two savages, and Elizabeth, the traitor, had joined forces with the Alpha male and gone to sleep. Rodney, for a second, thought about raising the white flag, but his ego would not allow him to quit, not yet. He decided to let them suffer a while longer.

John sat there calculating how long Rodney would last. They've all stayed awake for more then three days before, but under the circumstance of impending doom, sleep was something easily ignored and thought unecessary. John was sure that Rodney was still dragging the game out only to torture them. Too bad the table was too big to accidently tip over to cause an instant game over, John thought.

Aiden didn't know why he was still sticking around. It probably was curiousity that kept him from leaving and going to sleep. He knew that the Major had already won. He could give his share of property and cash to the Major, but the Major didn't need his property to win. He just needed Rodney to give up.

"Rodney, give up," John said. "It's over and you know it."

Rodney held a up his hand to stop John from talking, while he stared intently at the board.

"Rodney, this isn't rocket science. You lost fair and square."

"I would hardly call this fair," Rodney replied, "You're only winning because of charity."

John started drumming his fingers on the table.

"Can you stop doing that? I'm trying to think?"

"What is there to think about? You roll the dice, move your dog, pay me, go bankrupt, lose, the end, game over, we win," John said impatiently.

"Can't we just let him win?" Elizabeth said. Her voice was muffled since her head was buried in her arms.

"Why?" John asked.

"Why? Look at the time," Elizabeth said, finally lifting her head, but immediately regretted it and put her head back down. "I would go to my room, but I don't think I can move." Elizabeth tried to move again, but the effort was too agonizing and gave up. "Just make sure you clean up this mess before you guys leave."

Then she felt someone pulling her chair back away from table, and the next thing she knew, she was being lifted off her chair. "What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"I'm taking you to your room," John said. Elizabeth was too tired to protest. She wrapped her arms around John's neck.

"Okay," she sighed tiredly.

"Where are you two going?" Rodney asked.

"To bed," John said.

"The same bed?" Rodney asked with a smug smile.

"Do want a midnight snack? I'm happy to give you a knuckle sandwich?"

"No thank you, I will stay here and proceed to kick your underling's butt, while you tuck Elizabeth in."

"In that case, Ford, you can have all my cash and property. Report who wins to me in the morning and it better not be Rodney," John ordered.

"Yes, sir," Ford grinned.

As John walked through the control room, the few people on the graveyard shift were stunned by what they saw, but they opted to pretend that it never happened as John walked passed them. After John and Elizabeth were out of sight, they each exchanged confused looks, shrugged, and returned to what they were doing.

The walk to Elizabeth's room wasn't far, and even though John was tired he didn't mind carrying Elizabeth. Elizabeth was already asleep again. Who knew playing Monopoly with a bunch of scientists could be so tiring, especially when one scientist was Rodney McKay.

When he reached her room, he triggered the sensor to open the door and the lights automatically turned on. He gently placed her onto her bed. He took off her shoes and covered her with her blanket.

"Good night, Elizabeth," he whispered and left to his own room.

* * *

The next morning Elizabeth arrived at the conference room to find Rodney face down, asleep on the conference room table, with the Monopoly board neatly balanced on his head, and all the tokens and money neatly placed in the box in front of him. 

"Now _that_ is a Kodak moment," John said standing behind Elizabeth.

"So who won last night?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know. I left when you left," John said with a smirk. Elizabeth only gave John a look and removed the board from Rodney's head.

"Rodney?" Elizabeth said as she poked him like she was poking a dead jelly fish.

Rodney jerked upright. "I'm awake," he said, and then he saw the box in front of him. "Hey, what happened? Where did Lieutenant Ford go?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," Elizabeth said.

"Sir," a voice came from behind them.

"Ford, report," John said.

"Doctor Mckay didn't stand a chance, but he put up a good fight, and eventually fell asleep before the game ended. So I took that as surrender and finished the game, sir"

"Which included putting the game board over Rodney's head while he was sleeping?" Elizabeth asked. Aiden grinned proudly. Elizabeth looked over at John to see him grinning proudly as well. "I work with _children_," Elizabeth muttered to herself.

"All right, Rodney I'm giving you fifteen minutes to wake yourself up for the 08:00 briefing, starting now," Elizabeth said and walked out towards the balcony as Rodney groggily stumbled out of the room in search of caffeine.

Elizabeth leaned forward on the balcony rail and took in a deep breath.

"How are you feeling?" John asked coming up to stand next to her.

"Tired," she simply said.

"It was a long night," John said understandingly.

"Never again," Elizabeth said.

"Never?" John asked.

Elizabeth thought for a bit. "I guess I should never say 'never'."

"I remember back on earth hearing that you were very anti-military, and now you're getting tucked into bed by an Air Force Major," John said.

"Are you calling me a hypocrite?"

"Me? Never."

"By the way, thanks," Elizabeth said.

"Thanks?"

"Thanks for 'tucking me' in last night," Elizabeth smiled.

"It all part of the job description, including the fine print I neglected to read."

"Fine print?"

"You know, flying alien spaceships, being chased by a prehistoric lizard, being attacked by life sucking aliens, and tucking in my lovely boss."

"Your lovely boss?"

"Yeah, kind of weird description don't you think? The last couple of bosses I had weren't exactly lovely, but they did love it when I read them a bedtime story before I tucked them in." Elizabeth laughed.

"I have to admit it was fun, but never again…at least not anytime soon," she corrected herself. "Come on, it's time to start another day." Elizabeth sighed, as she brushed her hand over John's arm signaling him to follow her back into the control room.

"Oh joy," John said and followed Elizabeth in.

**Finis**


End file.
